If you have, or have had children, you will not be able to put down “Playing Nice” until you have read the last page.
Imagine you have a two year old and someone comes to your door claiming they have DNA tested your son and he, not you is his father.
The tension increases from there.
As you switch between the two main narrators discovering their flaws and wondering whose version you can trust, you cannot help but wonder what you would do as the situation becomes an increasingly intolerable nightmare.
The pace is unrelenting
I reviewed an advance copy of this book from NetGalley. Highly recommended.

I absolutely loved this book! I could not put it down! If you are a fan of psychological thrillers with crazy twists, you will not want to miss this book.

Peter Riley is a stay at home dad who gets a terrible surprise when Miles Lambert shows up at his door and tells him their babies were mixed up when in the NICU and they have each other's child. Everything starts out amicable and the families try to meet and get to know one another and the boys. This is where the book goes crazy.

I would highly recommend this book. It is so good.

Thank you to NetGalley, publisher, and author for an advanced copy of this book for my honest review.

Another great read! The author does a great job of getting right to the story and engaging you in an immediate way. Two families, two newborn children, and the havoc created with a switch. What more can you ask for?

Pete Riley is a stay at home dad of a rambunctious little boy named Theo. One morning while dropping him off at nursery school he notices two men and a woman watching as he picks up his son at school. He at first believed they must be looking at homes in the area until a short time later, there is a knock on his door and it’s the man he saw. His name is Miles Lambert and he brings the unbelievable news that Theo is actually his son not Petes’
While the two families meet and seem to have common goals on how to join the two families, Miles becomes more and more intrusive until things reach a breaking point and they end up at odds and decides to sue for custody. There is also an official investigation into how the children were switched. There are millions of dollars at stake as well as possible criminal charges and both families are hiding secrets.
I picked this up intending to just read a little to see if it caught my attention and couldn’t put it down I have enjoyed all of this authors previous books and this is the best so far, The only bad thing is it won’t be released until July 28th but this should be added to your summer reading list now. Thank you to #netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you NetGalley for an advanced copy of Playing Nice!

OH MY GOD! I hated this book so much, I loved it!!! I’m sure you are asking yourself, what???? What does that even mean?? Well let me tell you... this book made me so angry at so many points that I was reading like a mad woman just to get past the HORRIBLE things that were happening, and hopefully get to the happy ending!! Pete and Maddie are happily minding their own business when Miles knocks on their door. He’s discovered that while in the NICU two years ago, Pete and Maddie’s son Theo was swapped with Miles and Lucy’s son David. At first the families try to become friends and make amicable decisions in regards to how they are going to deal with this unusual situation, until Miles starts to play dirty... and I mean dirty with a big capital D! I hated this character more than I think any other character in any book I’ve ever read. He is the worst type of person!!! I read so fast waiting to see if he was going to get what was coming to him and I won’t spoil anything by telling you if he does or not...
You’ll have to read for yourself and let me tell you, you won’t regret picking up this book!

An extremely tense tense read. I have to say this made me very edgy but I think that was because the plot was well written and the author had every intention of making the reader feel tense. Lots of twists and turns.

Playing Nice is a psychological suspense thriller by JP Delaney. Maddie and Pete, life partners find out their son is not really theirs when Miles and Lucy come forward with a DNA test. The couples’ babies were switched at birth. Now, two years later the couples try to figure out how to navigate this new territory. But instead of working out, Miles takes things way too far in more ways than one. How can Maddie and Pete keep Theo when he’s not theirs to keep?

I loved the way this book was written from Maddie and Pete’s viewpoints. Each character has a flaw so the reader isn’t sure who to trust. Without knowing who is telling the truth, it’s hard to figure out how the story will end. I loved running through all the scenarios in my head.

**please note that while there is no child abuse, there is talk of it within the story. If this is something that upsets you, please skip this one.

This was an incredible novel that drew me in and never let go. I felt emotionally invested in the characters’ lives and couldn’t stop reading.

Playing Nice is about two families whose children were switched at birth at the hospital. Once we find out the babies were swapped, the two families try to integrate and maybe try to become one big, loving family. But then things start to get a little...off. Can't say too much more than that without spoiling it for you, but I really enjoyed Playing Nice. Both families had qualities you might like, and also might find annoying. But when one of the dads becomes a bit obsessed, you'll know that things are about to get bananas. And man, do they!

There's probably real life situations where similar swaps have happened, and it's no joke. And not to make light of anyone who has experienced this IRL, but this fictionalized version is told quite well. I wouldn't wish this on anyone.

Playing Nice comes out 7.28.2020.

5/5 Stars

Playing Nice started from page 1 with every parent’s worst nightmare and went from there into a roller coaster of suspense. Once the reader starts, it’s going to be hard to put down, and I can’t recommend Playing Nice enough! JP Delaney proves once again that he’s a go-to author for a suspenseful, entertaining novel!

Thanks to Net Galley and Ballantine Books for an advance reader copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

J.P.Delaney and I didn’t always get along, in fact his first few books I found to be about as mediocre as popular thrillers get and then he went and wrote The Perfect Wife, which was freaking excellent, almost as if written by another person altogether. Which is to say, the second I found his latest on Netgalley, I made a request. Just had to find out for myself what he does next, if the quality holds up and so on. And Delaney managed to surprise me yet again by switching gears completely. Which is to say Playing Nice is actually not exactly a thriller. It has all the right elements such as split narrative and a prerequisite twist of two in the end, but otherwise it’s way more subtle than an all out thriller. It’s more of a family drama in fact, one based on an impossible and therefore intriguing proposition…what is the child you have loved and raised as your own for two years turns out to have been switched at birth with another. And what if the other family, no matter how lovely and well to do they seem initially, isn’t quite as decent as you might have hoped. What do you do when the balance shifts, when the other party isn’t being fair, when justice isn’t logical and logic isn’t just? When do you quit playing nice? That’s the main question the couple in the book is faced with. But, of course, there’s so much more going on, the situation is considerably more complex, the couples are on an infinitely different footing going in, The Lamberts are wealthy, The Rileys (not technically so, since they are not married, but close enough for reviewing purposes) are not. Each couple has a different inner dynamic, Miles Lambert is outgoing, charming, gregarious type, his wife a pretty shadow next to him…Maddie has gone through severe postpartum, but is nevertheless tougher than her partner, who as a main caretaker for the child is the milder, steadier, calming presence. In fact, not just of the couple, of the entire book. The man is the sort of decent conscientious person Miles Lamberts of this world tend to steamroll over. It isn’t just a class thing either. This is about genuine psychopathy and the clever thing about it is that it actually features more than once in different contexts. Both are pertaining to parenting, but both go a long way to contribute to the entire nature/nurture debate. So yeah, serious drama most of the way through and then a definitive turn into a thriller territory. Because psychopaths are mostly only likeable when they get their way and if they don’t…all bets are off. SO what you have is a high stakes morality play. Interesting story, makes you think, Delaney’s done some clever things with the plot, but mainly it’s just really emotionally engaging, surprisingly so for a somewhat hyperbolic soap operatic sort of concept.For me, though, it grabbed my interest enough to maintain it the uncharacteristically long time (not at all the book’s fault, just timing) it took to finish it. Loved the ending too, nicely done. Not quite as smart of a book as The Perfect Wife, but really quite good in its own right. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley.

Playing Nice is a first class psychological thriller that will have readers rapidly turning pages. Two families, two baby boys who, were switched at birth; a proposed resolution that becomes an adrenaline rush for the reader. The author has a good grip on his characters’ inner emotions...good, bad and ugly...as he weaves his story to its startling conclusion. I voluntarily reviewed an advance copy of this book from NetGalley. Most highly recommend.

I admit it. I love discovering a new novel by J. P. Delaney, who is one of my new favorite writers. Playing Nice is a study in psychological abuse. It begins when Pete Riley discovers a stranger named Miles Lambert at his front door. Miles promptly informs Pete that their baby boys, who were born very prematurely at a private hospital were switched at birth. The boys are now two, so Pete and his partner Maddie and Miles and his wife Lucy need to decide how to handle the situation. Everything starts out amicably, but of course this is a J. P. Delaney novel, so you know that things are going to quickly spiral out of control. They do, and thus begins the nightmare that becomes Pete and Maddie's daily lives.

I'm not a parent, but Delaney is such a gifted storyteller that I could feel every sensation that Pete and Maddie were going through. I was hooked from page one to the very last page, and as usual with Delaney, I couldn't put this book down. I finished it in a day and a half. It was absolutely addictive!

Many thanks to Netgalley and Random House for providing a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. Playing Nice will be published on July 28, 2020, and I highly recommend it to all readers of suspense/thrillers.

This was a fantastic story from the first page to the last. JP Delaney is a fantastic Author! This is the first book I have read of his and It will not be the last. This book kept me wide awake and highly engaged. I had a hard time to put it down. This is about two couples who had preemie babies and were transported to the same hospital for care. 2 Years later there is a knock at the door and then the book really takes off. This is a DO NOT MISS book if you like psychological thrillers.

Playing Nice by JP Delaney was fantastic! I loved everything about this book which wasn't a surprise considering how much I enjoyed the author's other novels. But this one I was absolutely glued to the pages from beginning to end. What a conundrum!

You discover that your robust toddler is really someone else's and they have your child who is sickly. For Pete and his partner Maddie, this is heartbreaking but they feel they can handle it by being kind and "playing nice." They have some ideas that will make everyone happy and allow both kids to get to know both sets of parents.

Unfortunately, Pete feels that his way is the only way. At first, he's amiable and likable but turns menacing and cold. Trouble for Pete and Maddie begins to mount when they don't readily agree with how Pete is handling things. Pete's wife is caught up in her husband's threats and lawsuits, his bullying behavior but there's not much she can do as she seems quite nervous and scared of him.

As I read this book, I had such sympathy for Pete and Maddie and couldn't imagine this happening in real life though I know it does. JP Delaney created such a layered novel, with every chapter brought some new issues for the characters to contend with.

Here's the official plot:

Pete Riley answers the door one morning and lets in a parent’s worst nightmare. On his doorstep is Miles Lambert, a stranger who breaks the devastating news that Pete’s son, Theo, isn’t actually his son—he is the Lamberts’, switched at birth by an understaffed hospital while their real son was sent home with Miles and his wife, Lucy. For Pete, his partner Maddie, and the little boy they’ve been raising for the past two years, life will never be the same again.

The two families, reeling from the shock, take comfort in shared good intentions, eagerly entwining their very different lives in the hope of becoming one unconventional modern family. But a plan to sue the hospital triggers an official investigation that unearths some disturbing questions about the night their children were switched. How much can they trust the other parents—or even each other? What secrets are hidden behind the Lamberts’ glossy front door? Stretched to the breaking point, Pete and Maddie discover they will each stop at nothing to keep their family safe. They are done playing nice.

Don't miss this book, it's absolutely amazing! It will be published on July 28!

Wow, this was a excellent thriller! I honestly had a hard time putting this one down to go to bed at night. Maddie and Peter were such great characters to root for and Miles was such a chilling villain. I really became emotionally invested in the story. Just an absolutely engrossing story; I loved it!

I have read all of the author'ssbooks and find them to be a good escape. This was no exception. A fun diversion for an afternoon read when the rest of the world seems to be coming apart, more every day. The book was some what predictable but always enjoy the writing and the occasional surprise.

An Incredible Page-turner!

Delaney expertly weaves a suspenseful and gripping novel. The most important marking of a good book, in my opinion, is whether or not I could put it down. This was UNPUTDOWNABLE. I would recommend this to customers, readers, and friends.

Family is more important than anything. So. The question must be posed... wouldn't you go to any lengths in order to keep them safe?

This was a twisty and turny book with an exceptionally interesting plot. I couldn't wait to get back to this story! I loved it in every way. Highly recommended!

Pete and Maddie had a difficult birth. Their son, Theo, was born prematurely, and they didn’t know if he would have any brain damaged later on in life. Lucky for them, he turned out fine. One unfortunate day, Miles and Lucy Lambert showed up at Pete’s house announcing that Theo was their son. The boys were switch at birth. The couples decided to keep Theo and David routine and home life as normal as possible. However, there was something weird going on with Miles. He’s not the happy-go-lucky, successful man he presented himself to be. There’s also the question of who switched the boys. Was it the hospital fault or someone did it deliberately?

Right off the bat, Miles can be view as a psychopath. Lucy is a submissive person in that controlling marriage. The real question is who done it. As much as Pete and Maddie want to get to know their son, David. The whole story was told around Theo. I think David should have been in the story more as he was in the center of that evil home with a father that knows he's not his biological son. As a psychopath, Miles didn't just go after Pete, Maddie and Theo, but he should also want to go after David in order to hurt Pete and Maddie. Time after times Pete and Maddie argee that they want to get to know David and rescue him from the Lambert and yet they have very little interaction with David. The whole story they interacted with David one time. That was a huge gap to the story. There was no following through. It was very one sided with the boys. The ending of who switched the boys made complete sense. Overall it's a great mystery.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for letting me read this fabulous ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was another enjoyable read from the author. A good mixture of mystery and suspense makes this a must read. This is a book which I would recommend for all to read.